TDN Day 2: Tilden to Bloomfield

Leaving Tilden at 7 a.m. Nice rest stop in Neligh. Amy (sister) is in pretty good spirits although we ache from no sleep. Since I printed off the elevation maps, I know there will be extremely tough hills today. Our necks and backs are in serious pain.

Lunch in Creighton, 30 miles between Neligh and lunch. Everyone feeling fairly well. But then I know what is ahead of us.

There it is. We turn right onto 84. No momentum, just a dead start from bottom to top. I heard people saying anywhere from 9 to 12 percent grade. Amy having trouble with her bike gears. We traded bikes and I kicked it up the hill. She rode every damned foot up, too! Funny, the couple from COLORADO walked their bikes up the hill! HA!

But I knew we weren't done with those buggers. Up and down and up and down, over and over til we got to Bloomfield. When we pulled into town, huge trees were split in half. People out front with their chainsaws cutting down trees. They had gotten the storm the night before. I heard a tornado mentioned.

We walked downtown and stopped at a small antique shop where the owner was displaying his antique toy collection. We recognized some items that we had in childhood, or that our dad collected and had similar items. Was nice to just browse.

We were so moved by the people who hosted this stop. It was family members of a TDN rider (regular) who had died suddenly. They were wearing buttons that said, "Randy's nephew," "Randy's aunt," etc. They served us dinner and were there at 5:30 a.m. with homemade biscuits and gravy, eggs, saugage, you name it. Was really moving.

This was the stop were we were introduced to Iron Man. Some guy who apparently thought quite highly of himself... I had plugged my phone into an outlet that was in a small room off of the stage in the gym. That morning I went into get it. Door was half way open, light off. When I opened the door, there was Iron Man changing into his bike shorts. I later found out who this guy was and was sorry I didn't give him that "disappointed" look when I caught him with his pants down. What a loser.